Georgetown’s defending Big East champion women’s cross country team traveled to Bethlehem, Pa., last weekend, to take part in the 27th annual Paul Short Run at Lehigh.

Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ron Helmer, keeping a strategy of resting the top runners in place, assembled a young and middle-distance specialized group of runners for the event.

Villanova captured the team title with a total of 58 points, Cornell finished second in the 34-team meet with 81 points and Georgetown tallied 119 points to garner the third spot.

“It was a big meet, and third place, I thought, was as good as we were going to do. I was very happy,” Helmer said.

Toledo’s Tuula Laitinen won the six-kilometer competition in a time of 20:26.20. Georgetown’s top finisher in the field of over 250 runners was freshman Colleen Kelly. The freshman crossed the finish line in 21:54.42 to take 15th, pacing the Hoyas. Sophomore Liz Churchville ran a 22:04.12 race for 20th. Senior Kate Crowley, junior Tyrona Heath and sophomore Carly Nuzbach also scored points for Georgetown.

According to Helmer, the meet provided a chance for the younger runners to earn a place in one of Georgetown’s top seven spots for the upcoming NCAA championships.

“What I’m looking for is help for down the road. I think a couple of those girls will end up running in our top seven once we get to the national meet, which is still about six weeks away,” Helmer said.

“I had a feeling she was going to be pretty good, but she’s getting there faster than I thought she would,” Helmer said of the team-best finish by Kelly. “She really stepped up.”

Churchville’s performance also puts her in contention for one of the top seven spots. “Liz is definitely talented enough, and over the weekend, she took a step in the right direction,” Helmer said.

Helmer also praised Crowley, who walked on to the program as a freshman, for her 22nd place finish in the race on Saturday.

“Kate made progress in her first three years here, but she really had a great summer and came back ready to run. I was very pleased,” Helmer said.

Michigan State’s men’s team, after winning back to back team titles in 1997 and 1998, added to its historically strong showing on Lehigh’s Goodman Campus Course by taking this year’s men’s Paul Short Invitational. The Spartans’ team-low of 65 points won the meet. Cornell (105 points), Navy (117), Army (124) and St. Joseph’s (171) comprised the rest of the top five. The Hoyas’ 394 points were good for an 11th place finish.

Senior Isidro Pimentel was the first Hoya finisher. Pimentel ran 25:26.96 to take 39th place. Sophomore George O’Loughlin was the next Georgetown runner to cross the line, recording 25:57.25 to earn 70th place. John Lenahan, David Swift and Felix Chrobog rounded out the scoring five.

The meet served as the second to last practice run for the Hoyas this season as they gear up for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 20.

This weekend, the No. 7 ranked Hoyas will travel to a pre-NCAA meet in Ames, Iowa, to run against many of the likely teams and individual competitors who will run at next month’s event. The athletes will get one chance to get familiar with the Iowa State course before the big race in November.

“Next week will be a big test. We need to line up now and start getting ready to race, and we’ll see what happens. I hope we go in and run a good solid race and know what we have to do in five more weeks to be ready [for nationals],” Helmer said.